2019 Weekend Highlights

Alumni Weekend 2019 was celebrated May 30 - June 2. Alumni and friends returned to campus to visit with old friends and reminisce about their days on the Hill. This is always one of our favorite times of the year – exciting to welcome in a new group of alumni, celebrate our most outstanding alumni, and honor traditions.

Celebrating our Alumni & Friends

Each year, the WPI Alumni Association recognizes individuals for the outstanding contributions they have made to their professions and to WPI. This year, the Association recognized 11 individuals.

Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement

Mr. John H. Lancaster ’39 (Awarded Posthumously): Project Manager for the Very Large Array and Assistant Director for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Rev. Debora Jackson ’89 MS, ’00 ME: Director of Lifelong Learning, Yale Divinity School
Mr. Anthony F. Leketa ’69: Executive Vice President Government Services, Parsons Corporation (Retired)
Dr. Stephen H. Legomsky ’69: Professor Emeritus, Washington University
Prof. Robert A. Peura ’64: Professor Emeritus, WPI
Mr. Stephen H. Rusckowski ’79: Chairman, President, and CEO, Quest Diagnostics
Mr. Richard E. Schneider ’79: Senior Advisor, Amphenol

Ichabod Washburn Young Alumni Award for Professional Achievement

Dr. Joseph C. Bush ’04: Vice President of Product Development, Battery Resourcers
Mr. Aswin Phlaphongphanich ’99: Director and CEO, SawasdeeShop Co. Ltd.

Herbert F. Taylor Award for Distinguished Service to WPI

Mrs. Jennifer J. Wyse ’94: Co-chair, WPI Women’s Impact Network

WPI Award for Distinguished Service

Mr. Robert M. Tupper, Jr.: Advisor, Zeta-Mu chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon

Celebrating our Supporters

Alumni Weekend provides an opportunity for us to say thank you to some of our most generous donors. The weekend kicked off on Thursday evening with the Grand Opening of the Alumni Center at Higgins House, preceded by a private reception for members of the WPI Lifetime Giving Societies—Founders, 1865, Goddard, Salisbury, Washburn, and Boynton—which recognize those who have made lifetime philanthropic commitments to the university from $100,000 to $10 million or more; the Alden Society, recognizing individuals who have made a planned or endowed gift to WPI; and President’s Circle members, WPI’s leadership annual donors.

The Thursday event highlighted the recent restoration and renovation work that was completed at Higgins House, which includes a new Alumni Lounge on the second floor and a high-tech conferencing system in the Library. The event celebrated the generous contributions of Nancy and Mike Abrams ’77 and the Alumni Association that made the updates possible.

On Friday afternoon, members of the Alden Society gathered for lunch. Attendees heard from Arthur Carlson, assistant director of the university archives, who spoke about the work being done in the archives and WPI’s “library of the future.”

Celebrating our Traditions

One of the main reasons people come back to campus for Alumni Weekend is to share in the strong traditions that make WPI the place we all love.

Alumni who have graduated 50 years ago or more attended the Fifty-Year Associates dinner on Friday evening. The dinner honored four Goddard Award recipients – John H. Lancaster ’39, Anthony F. Leketa ’69, Stephen H. Legomsky ’69, and Robert A. Peura ’64 – for their outstanding professional achievement and recognized the class of 1969’s milestone 50^th reunion.

Saturday morning after a campus update from President Leshin, reunion classes gathered for the traditional Reunion Class Parade. Groups proudly carried their class banners around the Quad. At the parade, members of the class of 2019, the newest members of the WPI Alumni Association, were presented with their class banner from members of the 50^th reunion class of 1969.

Saturday evening festivities included reunion class dinners and receptions. All alumni gathered for post-dinner entertainment featuring a dancing, s'mores, and lawn games on the Quad, Wagers in the Wedge, and a coffee shop in Bartlett Center.

AW19 Collage

Alumni Weekend 2019 provided nearly alumni and friends with opportunities to reconnect and celebrate all there is to love about WPI. Check out our photo album to relive the weekend or see what you missed!